They say life begins at the end of your comfort zone. (I don’t know who “they” is, but I Googled the phrase to make sure I wasn’t making it up, and it’s real.)
I’ve been thinking a lot about the upcoming new year. I don’t know about you, but I absolutely love setting goals and intentions. My brain is wired to think about the future constantly, and I just love imagining all the possibilities of things I could do and create.
I’d love for you and I to think on our individual futures together. New Years’ resolutions might seem cheesy, but what better time to put thought into your life than the big fresh start of a brand new year?
Here are some questions I’m asking myself in this final month of the year.
Feel free to steal them and use them in your own introspective time:
- What have been some highlights for me this year? What was especially impactful, challenging, or straight up fun?
- What have I done this year that I want to continue doing, or do again?
- What have I spent too much time on this year? What habits or activities do I want to cut back on or stop doing completely?
- What was I doing three years ago, and how have I grown or changed since then?
- Where do I want to be three years from now?
- Working backwards from that person I want to be in three years, what is one thing I can start doing right now to move me in that direction?
- What is one big, scary thing I want to do in 2022? What is my first step toward that?
- What is one crazy fun thing I want to do in 2022? First step toward that?
Suggestions for how to use these questions to move you toward your goals:
- Journal it out. Thinking about your goals is good, but writing them down is better.
- Vision board. Again, this sounds cheesy, but visualizing where you want to go helps your brain work on solutions both consciously and unconsciously. You can do this the old school way with magazines, scissors, and a poster board, or go digital with some Pinterest/ Canva action. The key is to find images that inspire you and put them all in one place where you will see them regularly. Tape it to your bathroom mirror, make it your phone background, whatever you need to do.
- Talk through it. I’m a visual learner to the extreme, but lots of people learn better by verbalizing and/or listening. Sit down with your best friend or whoever you trust to have a real conversation about your life and your future. Talking about your goals with someone also gives you that added layer of accountability. We’re so much more likely to follow through on things if we’ve told another person what we intend to do. This is positive external pressure, and we need it sometimes to help us move forward.
If you need someone to tell your goals and ideas to, my inbox is always open!
Happy future dreaming, my friend.
